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96.5 Inner FM broadcasts on a frequency of 96.5 MHz. Its main coverage area is the inner north eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Its format consists of largely of easy listening / nostalgic music, and community programs.

The studios of Inner FM are located at Warringal Shopping Centre (formerly called Centro Warringal) in Burgundy St, Heidelberg. The transmitter is at the Austin Hospital, with signal transmission between station and transmitter achieved by an analogue "line-of-sight" UHF link.

Inner FM is staffed by non-paid volunteers, who are involved in all aspects of running the station. Overall management rests with a committee elected by the members. (This is in accord with the proper form for an Incorporated Not-For-Profit association, constituted under the Associations Incorporations Act 1981 (Victoria).[citation needed])

Inner FM broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The format is a mixture of magazine-style and music programmes, with an intention to appeal to all tastes and age groups. Currently,[when?] live broadcasting is from 6 am to midnight, with pre-recorded programs overnight on weeknights, and live overnight programs from midnight Friday into Saturday.

The station presents live outside broadcasts of matches in Melbourne's VAFA football competition on Saturdays and Sundays during the football season, with outside broadcasts of local festivals and events also undertaken.

Inner FM can also be listened to through a live audio stream, accessible via the station's website.

A survey[citation needed] conducted by the Department of Transport and Communications in 1992 showed a 40% overall awareness of community radio, and a survey conducted by Ramsay Research at the same time, showed a local listening base of 8.6%.

Inner FM is the result of a change to an initially proposed plan for a number of sub-metropolitan community radio stations. The initial plan for the North-Eastern Melbourne area was for one radio station service area covering both the Heidelberg area and the Plenty Valley area.

The initial community radio group was formed as North Eastern Radio, with an office in the Plenty Valley area. Subsequent to their first trial broadcasts, a new group was established in the inner most area of the that original service area. The new group cited differences in community make-up and population age as the primary reasons for the formation of the new group.

The (then) Australian Broadcasting Authority later agreed to divide the original North East Melbourne service area into an Inner North Eastern region and an Outer North Eastern region. The original North Eastern Radio became "ONE FM" (Outer North East) (Now Plenty Valley FM) and "INR" (Now Inner FM) became the operator in the Inner North eastern portion of the original service area.

Inner FM began life in November 1987 when a group of local residents held a meeting to discuss the formation of a community radio station in the North-Eastern region of Melbourne. Several of these members are still current presenters on Inner FM.

The first test broadcast period of what was then known as North East Community Radio was conducted in late February and early March 1988 from the Heidelberg Town Hall. This test broadcast lasted for one week. A second week-long test broadcast was conducted during July 1988.

In March 1990, as part of a process of licensing eight sub-metropolitan community radio stations, Inner North East Community Radio was granted a "C" (General Community) class licence by the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal.

It wasn't until December 1990 the Department of Transport and Communications finished conducting further test broadcasts, and the station started regular broadcasts on 10 December 1990.

Inner FM does not operate with a playlisted music presentation. The station has maintained a "program based" presentation. This features many volunteers presenting a weekly (in most cases) one to two hour radio program featuring music they themselves prefer to broadcast.

Over recent years,[when?] Inner FM has adopted a Senior Citizens focused program style. This is demonstrated with the programs featured in daytime - for example: 'Morning Magazine,' 'Unforgettable Music,' 'Monday Musicale,' and 'Listen to the Bands.'[1]

"Speciality music" programming takes place after 6pm, with programs devoted to a wide range of musical styles and demographics.

Similar to many other sub-metro community radio stations, Inner FM features a number of "ethnic" program hours, In the case of Inner FM, it presents six hours per week of non-English Language programs from 6pm to midnight on Mondays.